Lyon

From Chamonix we decided we didn't want to drive the entire distance back to Paris in order to fly home. Therefore, we decided to stop in Lyon, drop off our rental car, which was probably the hardest thing we had to maneuver since being in the country, spend one night there and then take a train directly to the airport the following day. We found this allowed us one more day to explore an additional city, and have a direct ride to the airport.

After finding the Budget Rental Car company, which was sandwiched between the train station and some side road, we took off to explore Lyon. According to Rick Steves' Europe travel book, he recommended walking through the Croix-Rousse district, which is the silk weavers district of Lyon. We absolutely loved walking these streets, which had secret passages, random off shoots and showcased gorgeous Italian architecture. It was slightly raining as we walked, but this little old part of Lyon offered many enclosed walkways and shops for us to stay dry.

Lyon, according to our research prior to traveling, was designated as the gastronomy capital of France, therefore we decided after exploring to treat ourselves to a very gourmet dinner. We decided on Le Winch, which was located on a quaint street lined with restaurants. My husband decided on an amazing dinner of duck and vegetables, and I finally, succumbed to steak and pom frites. (The first time I went Paris as a 13 year old girl I only order steak and pom frites, so this time around I promised myself I would try other things.)
After dinner we walked back to our hotel. We ended up staying at Hotel Central because of its location to the train station. Though this was a last minute decision, we were really impressed with this hotel. It has a very modern feel to it, the rooms are quite large and they offer a great breakfast in the morning.